Sporting KC settles for draw vs. Dallas in midweek showdown at Children’s Mercy Park

As the ball looped high following a bad touch from an FC Dallas player, Gianluca Busio chose his time to strike perfectly.

Beating two men in the air, the 18-year-old knocked the ball down for teammate Khiry Shelton as Sporting pressed high and hard. Helping with the press, 22-year-old Felipe Guttierez received Shelton’s first-time pass before dishing across to Gerso Fernandes at the edge of the box.

From there, it was simple for Gerso to slide the ball through to Shelton, who poked it home on the stroke of halftime. Although it was Fernandes on the assist and Shelton with the goal, the young midfielders could be thanked for the equalizing goal and the point that came with it in a 1-1 draw with Dallas.

The two Sporting KC youngsters, alongside 19-year-old Cameron Duke, were in the center of the midfield and center of attention Wednesday night at Children’s Mercy Park: All three homegrowns started for the host team.

Dallas opened the scoring in the ninth minute before Shelton tied it in the dying moments of the first half.

In the absence of midfielders Ilie Sanchez, Felipe Guttierez and Gadi Kinda due to multiple reasons, the trio of Busio, Hernandez and Duke started in midfield. It was the first professional start for Duke, an Overland Park native.

Any concerns about the trio’s inexperience were quickly quashed. Busio featured again in the number six role, anchoring his two younger teammates with good defensive play and distribution of the ball. And Gutierrez and Duke exhibited the energy and undeterred determination of young players trying to prove themselves.

“I think as the game went on they became less thinking and more instinctive, which is what you want to get to,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said. “They started to get into that rhythm and that routine that you’re expecting as the ball grows; when you actually leave the line and go out and pressure the ball, their timing got better as the game went on. They did a good job.”

Blame for Dallas’ lone goal fell squarely on the Sporting defense, not a shy start from the midfield. Luis Martins received the ball with two Dallas players closing quickly; instead of clearing it, he tried to split a pass between them to Roberto Puncec — problem being, he instead passed it straight to Dallas’ Bryan Acosta, who slid through Franco Jara for the score.

Vermes screamed at the linesman in KC’s defensive half, thinking Dallas’ Jesús Ferreira was offsides on the initial pass upfield. Ferraira was one of the players who’d pressure Martins following Puncec’s interception and pass to Martins.

But center referee Ramy Touchan refused to take a closer look at the goal via the video assistant referee (VAR) and pointed straight to the center circle, signaling a good goal.

From there, Sporting dominated much of the rest of the game. Dallas threatened a couple of times, but the high press of the young Sporting midfield kept the visitors trapped to the point they were playing the ball out of the back on every possession.

“Those boys have been training well for so long and deserve an opportunity and they took it tonight,” Sporting’s Johnny Russell said. “Didn’t look out of place at all, and when you look at the three guys in midfield and how young they are, they didn’t look out of place.”

“They grew into the game. We started a little bit nervous as a team, but I think as the game went on we grew as a team — and especially those guys.

The high press resulted in Kansas City’s tying goal in the 45th minute through Shelton.

For the first time this season, Shelton shifted back inside to play center forward, a position he often played in 2018 before he left Kansas City for German club Paderborn. Shelton has typically played as a winger, with designated player Alan Pulido playing central.

“It brought back a lot of memories from 2018,” Shelton said with a laugh. “But it was good, it was fun. Should’ve scored maybe two or three more goals, but that’s something I will work on this week.”

With Dallas owning the stingiest defense in the league so far this season (0.67 goals-per-game average), the high pressing game was imperative for Sporting. The tactic allowed Sporting to put pressure on Dallas’ veteran centerbacks, Matt Hedges and Reto Ziegler, effectively taking them out of buildup play.

With the two centerbacks preoccupied with KC’s young core, Sporting was able to attack Dallas from the wings all night. And Kansas City probably should’ve walked away with more than a point because of it.

Partly due to wasted chances and partly last-ditch defending, Sporting squandered chances throughout the game — Fernandes should’ve had a couple of assists, Russell sailed a couple of shots over the bar and Dallas’ Matheus Simonete Bressaneli took a pair of close-range shots to the groin, leading the home team to rue some missed opportunities.

Kansas City finished the game with 22 shots to Dallas’ five. But of those 22 shots, 14 of them were blocked and only three made it on target.

“We had so many opportunities, so many shots, that were good shots and were on target that were probably goals and they just throw a body in the way,” Russell said. “It’s credit to them, for that’s the way you want your team to defend ... and they were very good at it tonight.”

This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 9:42 PM with the headline "Sporting KC settles for draw vs. Dallas in midweek showdown at Children’s Mercy Park."